Information Disseminator or Opinion Guider Ideas of Journalistic

Information Disseminator or Opinion Guider? Ideas of Journalistic Professionalism from China in the Digital Age Yu Xu University of Southern California, USA Ruiming Zhou Fudan University, Shanghai, China Xianzhi Li Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing, China

New Media Ecology in China • Media Commercialization and Capitalization • Propaganda Model and Market Model • • Provide Information • Guide Public Opinions Digital Communication • New Players in Media Arena • Strategies change of traditional media • News Processing

Revisit Journalistic Professionalism • • Two Objectives • Detect the social profiles, functions of journalism, roles of journalists, and ideas of professionalism • Examine the differences between journalist from perspectives of organizational forms and geographic factors Method • Face-to-face interviews with 146 journalists • 4 cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan • State-owned news media, news websites or grass-root media • From March 2014 to January 2015

Beijing Wuhan Shanghai Guangzhou

Quick Facts about 146 Journalists

Social functions of Journalism Cities Media Type Function 1 Function 2 Function 3 Old Provide information Guide the opinion Social supervision New Provide information Promote objectivity Protect people/society Old Provide information Guide the opinion Provide a picture of the world/day Provide information Interpret issues such as new laws, societal problems, etc. Help form opinions (public's, various groups) Educate Enlighten; Search for solutions (constructive criticism) Beijing Shang hai New Old Provide information Guang zhou Wuha n New Provide information Old Provide information; Help people/society New Provide information Search for solutions (constructive criticism) Provide a picture of the world/day Educate Entertain; Interpret issues such as new laws, societal problems, etc. Guide the opinion

Roles of Journalists Cities Media Type 1 st Role Old Information disseminator New Information disseminator Old Neutral Information disseminator Objective information recorder Public opinion guider New Neutral Information disseminator Public opinion guider Social progress promoter Old Information disseminator Supervisor A bridge between the government and the public New Information disseminator Social progress promoter Information recorder Old Neutral Information disseminator Supervisor Social order maintainer New Neutral Information disseminator Public opinion guider Opinion expresser Beijing Shang hai Guang zhou Wuha n 2 nd Role 3 rd Role Supervisor Social observer; Rational thinker A bridge between the government and the public Social progress promoter

3 Most Important Predictors By Cities BEIJING Old Media New Media No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 Good writer Engage in ethical conduct in general and in profession Objective Engages in ethical conduct in general and in profession Competent, knowledgeable about subject

3 Most Important Predictors By Cities SHANGHAI Old Media New Media No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 Curiosity Good writer Generally erudite and scholarly; Is objective Curiosity Competent, knowledgeable about subject; Good writer; Unbiased; Engages in ethical conduct in general and in profession; Is objective Independent

3 Most Important Predictors By Cities Guangzhou No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 old media Competent, knowledgeable about subject Engages in ethical conduct in general and in profession Independent Is objective Unbiased; Engages in ethical conduct in general and in profession; Courageous, has grit; Rational new media Competent, knowledgeable about subject

3 Most Important Predictors By Cities Wuhan No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 old media The ability to judge news value; Social interaction ability; Interview skills Engages in ethical conduct in general and in profession Good writer; Unbiased; new media The ability to judge news value; Social interaction ability; Interview skills Engages in ethical conduct in general and in profession Is objective Generally erudite and scholarly; Competent, knowledgeable about subject; Good writer

Conclusions • They seldom held a second job, and were primarily satisfied with their earnings. • Online journalists were more likely to have two or more past jobs and less likely to be union and party members than their traditional media counterparts. • Journalists were unable to reach a consensus on important predictors of professionalism, but almost all the journalists mentioned ethical conduct as well as writing skills. • Those factors, such as being independent from interest groups, being objective when reporting stories and lack of bias, are crucial in the West, did not matter a lot in China.

Conclusions • The fundamental function of journalism was to provide information. • The interpret role was emphasized, but it was often defined as “guiding the opinion”, a kind of propaganda discourse in CCP, which means to act as a mouthpiece for the government. • Journalists here believed they should first perform as information provider, and next role was “guide the opinion”. • The most prominent limitation of this study is that we recruited our respondents through non-probability sampling.

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